Kenny Napper

Kenneth "Kenny" Napper (born July 14, 1933 in London ) is a British jazz musician ; Initially active as a double bass player, he developed into one of the most important European arrangers .

Live and act

Napper received piano lessons as a child; he then switched to bass and studied at the Guildhall School of Music . During his military service he accompanied Mary Lou Williams in 1953 . He then worked with Jack Parnell , Malcolm Mitchell and Vic Ash , with whom he toured with Cab Calloway , as well as Alan Clare . In 1957 he worked for Basil and Ivor Kirchin and toured North America with Ronnie Scott , then played with Don Rendell , Stan Tracey , Tubby Hayes and Tony Kinsey . After he returned to Ronnie Scott's quartet in 1960, he worked for several years as a bassist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , where he accompanied musicians such as Jimmy Deuchar , John Dankworth , Pat Smythe , Phil Seamen , Zoot Sims , Carmen McRae and Paul Gonsalves .

From the mid-1960s he belonged to the groups of Ted Heath and Tony Coe / John Picard , but also recorded with Barney Kessel , Gonsalves, Tracey and Dankworth. In addition, he began to work as a film composer. In 1970 he worked with Stephane Grappelli , before becoming a member of Kurt Edelhagen's orchestra until 1972 . He also began to compose and arrange for Edelhagen.

He finally moved to the Netherlands, where he arranged for the Metropole Orkest , the Skymasters , but also the NDR dance orchestras and other ensembles. He also taught at the Hilversum Conservatory , where he shaped numerous younger arrangers such as Jörg Achim Keller and Martin Classen .

Discographic notes

• Landes Jugend Jazz Orchester Hessen A Tribute to Kenny Napper ( Mons Records , 2010, with Madeline Bell , Jiggs Whigham , Ferdinand Povel , Jan Wessels )

Lexical entries

• John Chilton , Who Is Who in British Jazz London 2005; ISBN 978-0826472342
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz

Web links

• www.kennynapper.nl
• Interview with Wolfgang Diefenbach
• Kenny Napper at Discogs (English)